Clark's 8th decade (Spring 2008 - Spring 2018): how was it?

[daBronzeBomma]

I'm not sure what exact issue we'd use as the starting point for Super Decade 8 (starting point for Super Decade 9 will be Bendis' MAN OF STEEL #1), but it's ending point is clearly ACTION COMICS #1000, and we'll include the 80th anniversary hardcover as well.

How do you feel about this particular time period for Supes in general? Overall good, bad, or meh?

What is your most favorite memory / storylines of Super Decade 8?

Your least favorite storylinestoryline or memory?

The one issue that best summarizes your feelings?

Where does Super Decade 8 rank compared to the other Super Decades? Bonus if you were actively reading the issues at the time, but not necessary for comments.

Me:

Well, I think GROUNDED and WONK happened here, as did the entirety of both the NEW52 and REBIRTH.

The Marriage was dissolved via hard reboot and then confusingly brought back, accelerated by 10 years lost time in-universe. Superman died (again), was replaced, then merged into one being. We lost Conner but we found Jon.

Cinematically, you had Henry Cavill in MAN OF STEEL, DAWN OF JUSTICE, and JUSTICE LEAGUE.

Television, you had 4 episodes of Tyler Hoechlin on SUPERGIRL and the first season of KRYPTON.

Cartoons, you had JUSTICE LEAGUE ACTION and the various DC animated movies set in the New52.

Still no video game of note

And that's only a bit of the whole shebang. There's tons that I'm forgetting right now.


Bottom line: Super Decade 8 (Spring 2008 - Spring 2018) had as many lows as it did highs. Hard for me to go anywhere but 5/10 on SD8.

What about you?

[Miles To Go]

I lapsed hardcore during World of New Krypton, but I enjoyed what I read of the Black Ring storyline, I browsed through what I could of Grounded (both during and after JMS) and was wondering why it was taking so long to finish. New 52 was where I jumped off completely, as my worst nightmares came true...brash Superman, a barely showcased Lois, Diana as a love interest, an ice-cold Kara....just a disaster of a run IMO, although I concede it has a fanbase who'll passionately defend it.

Then Convergence came, and I came back. Jon's birth and character development caught my curiosity. I stayed around for Truth (big mistake), but I had Lois & Clark to cheer me up. Then Rebirth came a knocking and before I knew it, I'd become a regular reader again. The Super Marriage was back in play, Diana had been jettisoned hardcore, and Jon's fast friendship with Damien created a new and very commercially viable super team. Where's that Supersons movie DC?

JL Action was decent for an adventure/comedy show, but was often too short and too self-contained.

The track record of the Caville movies speak for themselves....a most divisive three films, but it's arguable Henry has come out of it largely loved and he's done a decent job of representing the character on screen and in media interviews despite everything collapsing around him.

So a meh beginning, a bad middle, and a strong end.

So far the latest Super Decade has kicked off strongly.

[Sacred Knight]

2008-10 was pretty awful. I tried, but he was just a mess after IC and never recovered. From WONK, to Secret Origins, to Grounded, just nothing worked. The most well-regarded run of that era was the Black Ring saga...which wasn't even about and did not even feature Superman. Pretty telling.

With the reboot of 2011 I was reinvigorated, and enjoyed pretty much that entire time outside of a couple hiccups.

Outside of the occasional fun issue, really disliked Rebirth mainly because of the stupid way they reincorporated Superman's history they wanted back; the two Superman thing was a disaster of an idea. It was a weight on anything anyone tried to do, and even then, the mantra of the era--Superman as a family man--didn't work for me, at least not the way it was portrayed. In regards to the two Superman nonsense, the merging only made it better in the sense that at least it was over, but it still lingers as a shadow to this day that just really has to be ignored rather tried to make sense of.

Right now, I'm currently having fun and looking forward to where things are going. Time will tell how Bendis portrays the family once that gets back together. I imagine it still being a tough sell for me but he's made me enjoy things again thus far so we'll see.

My favorite story in all that time was the entireity of Morrison's Action Vol. 2 run, followed closely by Pak's run. Soule's Superman/Wonder Woman rounds out the top three.

Least favorite was everything starting from Rebirth to Superman Reborn.

As for where the whole thing ranks in his total history? Pretty low. I think the 7th decade trumps it as the worst, but its probably the second worst after that.

[Dispenser Of Truth]

I wrote about it in April. In short: so, so bad.

[Adset]

i had a hard time with superman after the triangle era ended and i wasn't reading anything super-related prior to the new 52 launch. when did johns do his legion of super-hero arc in action? that was probably the last super-book i had picked up prior to the reboot.

i jumped on action when morrison started and stayed until he left. not his best. i read snyder's unchained and john's superman arc. neither were my favorite. i got most of my superman in the new 52 from justice league. i'm glad clark + diana was not a particularly long-lived idea.

i've always like jurgens and i liked the tomasi/gleason team so i picked up both titles with rebirth and have been reading both ever since.

the rebirth era has definitely been my favorite, in the time period provided (2008-2018). i dug the continuing adventures of lex luthor: superhero, and i felt that jon was a great addition to the super-family. speaking of the super-family, i don't think i've read any of the satellite books since kesel's superboy and PAD's supergirl in the 90s. i couldn't speak on any of those.

it's best that i say nothing at all of superman's foray into cinema with dc's cinematic universe.

[Sacred Knight]

I wrote about it in April. In short: so, so bad.

That's depressing. Because while there's instances here and there of subjective opinion, most of it is objective fact.

Maybe I have to rethink what really was the worst decade, 7 or 8.

[Miles To Go]

I wrote about it in April. In short: so, so bad.

Hard to disagree with any of that. It's rough man...at least you're somewhat hopeful with Bendis

[Lvenger]

2008 started off well with the tail end of Johns' Superman and the Legion of Superheroes and the Brainiac arcs but New Krypton was a huge mess. I liked WONK but the rest of the New Krypton titles were too generic and boring. And then Grounded made things even worse with a terrible story portraying a hopelessly lost Superman. My favourite run up until the New 52 was The Black Ring and that didn't have Superman in it until the last part. Despite Post Crisis Superman being one of my favourite versions of the character, his era ended very underwhelmingly.

Then came the New 52 reboot and although I did like some parts like Morrison's run, Pak's first arc, and Johns' run, I hated the majority of what the New 52 did to Superman. It made him into a hot headed, brash, reclusive loner who was more willing to talk with his fists than his heart. I hated that the character I had loved and read for so many years had been deconstructed, broken down and reconverted into a fascimile to make the character more 'relevant' and 'cool.' The entire approach to Superman during this period was totally and utterly wrong from what I saw and Truth/Savage Dawn personified everything I hated about what the New 52 did to Superman. Taking away his secret identity, his costume and his powers may as well have been the nail in the coffin for my dissatisfaction with the New 52 Superman era. Were it not for Convergence and the Lois and Clark mini, I would have stopped reading Superman comics period.

Rebirth restored my interest in Superman and DC in general. The Superman I wanted to see was back, the Super Family living in Hamilton was a great status quo for the time it lasted, there were new angles like Superman figuring out how to raise Jon and teach him to control and use his powers properly as well as Lex Luthor as an ally of Superman instead of archnemesis. I liked the initial premise of the Pre 52 Superman and his family as interdimensional refugees though I knew it would have to be resolved sooner or later (admittedly Reborn's attempt to merge the Pre 52 and New 52 Supermen was a tad messy) I liked the stories during Rebirth, I loved the characterisation of the Super Family and I loved how it introduced another fan favourite character in the form of Kenan Kong, the New Super-Man as well. It may not have been perfect and making Oz Jor-El is a decision I still dislike but I greatly enjoyed the majority of the Rebirth Superman era and I certainly miss the quality of writing.

Another thing that made it hard for me to be a Superman fan were the movies. Man of Steel still ignites a fire in me for how much Zack Snyder betrayed what Superman is supposed to be in how he represented him in Man of Steel. A Superman who was told to hide and maybe let people die by Jonathan Kent, whose sole focal points of humanity are his mother and Lois and who divides people more than he inspires was a fundamentally wrong depiction of the original superhero. BvS and Justice League continued to dump on the character's cinematic portrayal as well. It's no surprise this version is so divisive with the direction Snyder and WB took the character in.

JL Action was decent and I love Superman vs The Elite but for the most part Superman animation didn't really stand out during this time.

My favourite stories would be Superman and The Legion of Superheroes, the vast majority of Tomasi and Gleason's Superman run, Revenge/Men of Steel & Action #999 from Jurgens' run and Morrison's Action Comics run from 5 onwards. My least favourite stories are Truth/Savage Dawn, Grounded, H'El on Earth, Doomed and the first Justice League arc.

I agree with MTG's rating, a meh beginning, terrible middle and a strong ending.

[The World]

I think the worrying thing for me is how many of the really old school fans seemed to have slowly left the fanbase over this past decade or so. I'm talking about the guys that had been reading from back before the COIE and had a good memory of the character prior to it. The guys that use to argue with the post-crisis fans over what Superman was all about. I worry for a world where the understanding of the character is nothing but post-70's/modern times reinterpretations.

[Kuwagaton]

It's weird to think that it was so up and down that it was somehow even. I mean when you think of listing pros, you think of the same things you would put in the cons column. They tried everything and nothing seemed to stick, but we did get everything. It felt worse losing something promising than not having a chance, and usually it felt like something didn't live up to expectations or suddenly went south. Specifically:

What is your most favorite memory / storylines of Super Decade 8?

Storylines plural, we have All-Star Superman, Action vol. 2 #0-18, Lois and Clark, Final Crisis, Last Family of Krypton, Maelstrom, the beginning and end of Rebirth, Coming of the Supermen, several new titles that ran briefly and trades... by this time in 2008 that cool Legion story was only recently wrapped up, and the upcoming Johns issues up until Secret Origin were strong. One of my favorite comic book anything memories is just the first viewing of Man of Steel. That blew me away.

Your least favorite storylinestoryline or memory?

Usually the follow up to whatever I really liked. New World of Krypton had me weary, that last Cornell story was kind of a mess, the first half year after Morrison left. Anything H'el related has to be my least. Even Grounded turned around, but later attempts at world building/big changes during the New 52 were really off-putting with few exceptions.

The one issue that best summarizes your feelings?

Superman #679

Oh, please tell me someone remembers this comic.

Where does Super Decade 8 rank compared to the other Super Decades? Bonus if you were actively reading the issues at the time, but not necessary for comments.

I've been reading consistently for about 2 decades and well, what I can say is that 8 was weaker than 7. 2012, 2013, and 2016 were the only years out of the ten that yielded superior results IMO.

[BBally]

It started off well as Geoff Johns' Superman and The Legion of Superheroes was still running (one of Johns' best Superman stories), New Krypton had potential but then it all went downhill, which led to Grounded, which i would argue consists of 2 parts one bad part (JMS) and one good part (Roberson), The Black Ring arc was fantastic wonderfully written by Paul Cornell and the Reign of Doomsday arc wasn't a bad story to end Pre-Flashpoint Superman era on.

I loved Superman: Earth One Volume 1, which I felt worked as an alternative take on Superman and would've made a much better film than either Returns or MOS. (So I disagree with Dispenser Of Truth of it being one of the worst Superman stories), haven't read the rest of the Earth One books though.

The New52 happened and it had its share of good moments such as Morrison's run on Action Comics, Greg Pak's run on Action and Batman/Superman were for the most part good stuff, Unchained was enjoyable too. However this was the most inconsistent the character has ever been, he would either to still feel like the familiar Superman accept younger and with a different suit or he would be written as young and brash. Not to mention whatever good runs he had were interrupted by events pushed by editorial and this all culminated in TRUTH, which overall wasn't as bad of a story as Superman fans made out to be (still a better story than JMS part of Grounded, the post Johns New Krypton arch, Chuck Austen's run and another of bad Superman stories from the mid 2000s).

Outside of New52 we series like Adventures of Superman, which was an enjoyable out of continuity anthology series, Superman Family a fun comic series for younger readers and Smallville Season 11, which was so good that even who didn't like the TV series enjoyed it. We also had Superman: American Alien, which was another enjoyable alternate take on the character.

We got Rebirth, which really breathed new life into the Superman lineup and the sales showed for a while, I absolutely enjoyed the Super family's adventures and seeing Jon teamup with Damien for Super Sons was a treat to read. Reborn came fixed some continuity hiccups although not completely but at least his continuity isn't as confusing as it was during the final years of Pre-Flashpoint so it still a huge step up in my book. Action 1000 was apart from the final story grand fitting for a character as long lived as Superman. Bendis run so far has been good overall although I still have my gripes, which include Rogol Zaar and the destruction of Kandor (there better survivors when this whole ordeal is over). Still following Doomsday Clock as I'm actually enjoying this story.

Despite being messy in places, I enjoyed Man Of Steel but BVS was hot garbage and Justice League was frustrating to watch (it had good moments but not enough to save it). I absolutely adore Supergirl, it was nice to Kara get some love outside of the comics and I've heard positive things about Krypton and we're getting a second season.

While I had issue with Superman's portrayal in the early seasons, I've enjoyed Young Justice. I absolutely adore Justice League Action as its a fun show and Superman is awesome in this show. As for the animated movies while we had some duds like Superman Unbound and Justice League War, we still had gems like Superman Vs The Elite, All Star Superman and the recently released Death Of Superman.

[Vordan]

This is a decade of high highs and low lows. It's fascinating to think back on and compare.

The Johns/Busiek era was a strong beginning. A lot of stories I love happened during that period, it's too bad Superman & the Legion of Superheroes didn't have a better name, because it's a great story. New Krypton started out promising and then fell flat on it's face at the end. Looking back it was a bad call to have Action and Superman not feature Superman at all for so long. Chris was ruined with that idiotic age-up and then unceremoniously dumped. Then came Grounded which was boring and culminated in the aggressively mediocre Reign of Doomsday. The only good part was The Black Ring saga which showcased what a fantastic villain Lex is, but didn't feature Supes at all until the end. Makes me sad Cornell never got to write a proper Superman run.

New 52 started off mixed. I loved Morrison's Action Comics which finally brought back ALL of Superman's aspects, giving him the Golden Age social crusader origin as well as the Silver Age scientist. I loved the new villains Morrison created like Nimrod (why the hell did they let him go, he was a cool looking villain who didn't rely on the Kryptonite cliche or being another strongman?), Vyndktvx, Dreken (again why hasn't he come back?), and others. But George Perez got screwed by editorial which was at it's lowest point around this time, and neither Lobdell nor Pak could ever deliver on the initial promise of Morrison's run. Pak was far better than Lobdell but his run was just "ok" in my book (I've never though shadow monsters make for good foes). I left shortly after Morrison did, only really reading Johns Justice League. I don't care about Superman's love life so I was not outraged about the marriage ending or Diana and Clark dating. The WW/Superman romance was rather dull from the one volume of SM/WW I read so I don't mourn it's loss either.

I returned to Superman comics with Rebirth, mostly for Jon. I was curious to see how a biological "Son of Superman" would be treated. I read Jurgens Lois and Clark and found it quite enjoyable. Blanque is a cool villain, a better "Joker" type than others that DC has tried to give Supes over the years. Lee Weeks art definitely helped my enjoyment of the story however. Tomasi's Superman quickly became my favorite of the two Rebirth titles, in no small part thanks to the excellent artwork. Gleason became one of my favorite artists with this run, his Eradicator redesign is top-tier. I loved the father-son relationship that unfolded over Tomasi's turn on the title. Manchester Black being one of my favorite villains, I was overjoyed to see his return with Black Dawn. The title kind of lost it's footing after that arc, but Boyzarro Redeath is one of the best endings to a run and helped salvage the run for me. I'm going to miss Hamilton but I'm excited for the future. Jurgens Action Comics was... ok. The best arc was Men of Steel featuring Supes and Lex teaming up against the Godslayers. Mostly I found Jurgens run dull, and his opening arc with Doomsday dragged on for freaking ever. I wish Jurgens would stop dragging Hank Henshaw around with him, he's never been a good character outside of Reign and his story should've ended there. One of my favorite new Superfamily characters, Kenan Kong was created during this period, and I highly recommend him. New Super-Man angers me because it proves Yang is a terrific writer who was screwed over by editorial during his Superman run. I can't wait for his upcoming Superman book.

Bendis has been ok so far. The Man of Steel was good but Bendis needs to start expanding on Rogal soon if he wants him to stick around. Otherwise he's just another strong guy with a grudge against Supes. Action Comics looks to be my preferred title of the two, the opposite of Rebirth. I've always wanted more focus on Metropolis, it's police officers, it's criminals, it's citizens, it's non-Lexcorp corporations, and I hope Bendis gives that to me here. I'm interested in the Invisible Mafia and I think they're a cool concept for a Metropolis crime organization, especially since Rucka stole Intergang for Batwoman. We'll see how Bendis does.

Zack Snyder's Man of Steel was a good movie. Shannon's Zod was better than Cavill's Kal though. Adams is a great actor but her romance with Cavill felt so rushed and unsatisfactory. BvS was trash, Cavill had barely any lines in it and we got the dreadful "Supes goes evil without Lois" foreshadowing, that will thankfully never happen now. Justice League was ok but I didn't like how it made everyone else look like losers compared to Supes, and Steppenwolf was a terrible villain.

Video games we sadly have nothing but the dreadful Injustice games, where the titles perfectly sum up their treatment of Superman and WW. The writing is juvenile and reads like terrible Batgod wankery. I don't have much hope that we'll get a good Superman game anytime soon.

TV it's it's been much better. Krypton is my favorite show right now, giving us the best live-action Brainiac so far, and their Zod is no slouch either. Seg-El is a cool protagonist and I'm eagerly waiting for Season 2.

Overall this decade can be summed up as "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way." A controversial decade indeed.

[superduperman]

The aughts were probably the most unstable period in Superman's history. Which is why I was one of the few people who liked New 52. I felt he needed a hard reboot to stabilize things. Even if I didn't agree with everything they did. Like undoing the marriage. Or that stupid armor. I think New 52 could have worked if they had let the books follow the natural progression they did before. IE: He eventually gets with Lois. But they didn't. I think the SM/WW relationship was the major thing that killed the New 52. I think fans would have been willing to give it more of a chance if they felt it was headed down a natural path. Superman wasn't the only one who was messed up by New 52. Far as I know, Green Arrow and Black Canary never even met each other during that time. The five year timeline didn't help.

I wasn't the biggest fan of Rebirth, I saw it as going backward. To the convoluted past. To this day, his history still isn't sorted out. That bothers me. There are things outside the main books I liked. Like Supergirl and Earth One. And I do like the Wal-Mart books. I think they are a great way to get new readers in the door and probably should have been done sooner. It's not a secret I'm not a huge fan of the new movies but they can improve.

[Sacred Knight]

I think that's putting much too big an emphasis on romantic relationships in Superman comics than is due. They do not make or break whole eras, regardless whom it is in a romantic relationship with whom, whether its dated, whether its marriage, whether its whatever. General relationships have to be developed of course, but the actuality is very few people aren't picking up a Superman comic because Superman is/isn't married to Lois, is/isn't dating her, is/isn't dating Wonder Woman, is/isn't dating Lana, or whomever. Its obviously an aspect of stories that a lot of people have their opinions on, but at the end of the day its never affected sales one way or the other that much. That's not the reason his books sink or swim.

[KC]

It started off fantastically with the "Superman and The Legion Of Superheroes" and "Brainiac" story arcs from Johns. Secret Origin from Johns also came out in this decade and I would say that Johns was one of the best writers for Superman in the characters 8th decade. The "Black Ring" story arc was another highlight from this decade. Grounded came out before the reboot and it was dreadful.

The New 52 was a mess for Superman and most of the stories that featured the character were awful. Rebirth was extremely uneven and I would say it was more bad than good.

Zack Synder's movies were probably the worst Superman related thing to come out of the decade. Drab and extremely boring these movies made for a genuinely unpleasant moviegoing experience. And Snyder's Superman was not any better.

Superman from Supergirl, on the other hand, was fantastic, he is everything Superman should be.

This decade also produced the best Supergirl comics since before COIE.